Dictionary. com picked
bluster because it covered significant developments in two categories: political and
meteorological.

Merriam-Webster settled on
capitalism and
socialism because the presidential campaign made them the most frequently looked-up words
on its website. (If people had to look up
socialism, maybe it wasn’t effective as a political attack. A slur needs a clear
meaning.)

More words of the year will be announced in the coming weeks by one group or another. But I’ve
already settled on a local list.

Here are my choices:

• Derecho: Central Ohioans learned a new word the hard way when a powerful
windstorm tore through on June 29, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands during a heat
wave.

The word is pronounced “duh-RAY-choh,” but you could just call it a hot mess.

• Swing state: Speaking of ill windiness, the 2012 presidential campaign tortured
Ohio nonstop. That’s what we get for being pivotal.

The candidates traipsed through every other day, and their ridiculous commercials became a TV
fixture — all because a small percentage of voters remained persuadable. Never has so much been
spent to misinform so few.

• Racino: On June 1, the slot machines went live at Scioto Downs racetrack, and
Columbus was a bingo town no more. But the even-bigger gambling development was the opening of the
Hollywood Casino in October.

We’re still not Las Vegas, of course. It’s Sin City. We’re more like Sin Township.

• Bowl ban: The term grew more painful as the wins piled up for the Ohio State
football team.

By November, it was clear that the penalty imposed by the NCAA for past offenses would
prematurely end a great season. Sure enough, the Buckeyes went undefeated and then went home.

But they certainly made the best of a bad situation.

• Data-scrubbing: The state accused Columbus schools of tampering with student
attendance records, apparently to make themselves look better.

Tortured explanations followed.

• ColumbUS: OK, the tourism logo (usually rendered in all capital letters, with
the “US” in a contrasting color for emphasis) was introduced in 2011. But it got heavier use in
2012, the city’s bicentennial year.

• Lockout: The suicidal National Hockey League shut down in a labor dispute that
has wiped out a large chunk of the 2012-13 season — including the All-Star Game, which would have
been played here.